Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, bolstered by a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said on Wednesday he might opt to dissolve the Hamas-led government and unity talks with the group were dead. Rice promised at a news conference with Abbas to "redouble ... efforts to improve the conditions of the Palestinian people" and press Israel to ease a closure of Gaza border crossings. Abbas made clear his patience was running thin in efforts to persuade Hamas to soften its policy toward Israel and form a unity government with his Fatah faction which Palestinians hope can lead to an end to a Western aid embargo. "If this doesn't happen in the near future, all options are open," he said at a news conference with Rice. "But the only option I reject is civil war." Twelve Palestinians have been killed in fighting between rival factions over the past week, the worst internal violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in a decade.... http://news.yahoo.com

A suicide truck bomber blew up outside the Iraqi army headquarters in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on Wednesday, wounding many but causing no deaths, police said.Anbar province police chief Brigadier Hameed Hummad told Reuters soldiers and police at the base in western Ramadi opened fire on the truck after it smashed into a concrete wall. "When the suicide truck bomber crashed into the wall he was killed immediately and the explosion took place afterwards," Hummad said. He said there were "many wounded" but he had no firm casualty figures. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2526610

President Vladimir Putin has warned Georgia not to use the "language of provocation and blackmail" against Russia in a speech in parliament. The Duma went on to vote overwhelmingly for a motion echoing Mr Putin's condemnation of "anti-Russian" and "anti-democratic" policies in Tbilisi. Tension rose in the past week when Georgia detained, then released, four Russian army officers for spying. Russia has imposed a travel and postal ban between the two countries. "I would not advise anyone to talk to Russia in the language of provocation and blackmail," Mr Putin said in the Duma. "I am talking about Georgia here." The motion passed by the Duma accuses Georgia of violating human rights and advocates further economic and financial sanctions. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5405756.stm

The US Republican Party is struggling to contain the scandal surrounding former Congressman Mark Foley's e-mails to young men amid new allegations. US media revealed a possible romantic link with a young congressional worker and that warnings about Mr Foley's conduct went as far back as 1995. Republican House leader Dennis Hastert has refused to bow to calls for him to resign over his failure to act sooner. Mr Foley denied ever having sexual contact with a minor, his lawyer said. President George W Bush said he had been disgusted by Mr Foley's actions. But Mr Bush also defended Mr Hastert in a scandal correspondents say is dominating politics as mid-term polls approach. A new opinion poll on Wednesday showed the Democrats within reach of retaking the House of Representatives, leading in 11 of 15 vital Republican-held seats. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5405596.stm

Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists. Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.It is one of the most dire forecasts so far of the potential effects of rising temperatures around the world - yet it may be an underestimation, the scientists involved said yesterday.The findings, released at the Climate Clinic at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth, drew astonished and dismayed reactions from aid agencies and development specialists, who fear that the poor of developing countries will be worst hit....http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1786829.ece

In June 1912, Novarupta—one of a chain of volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula—erupted in what turned out to be the largest blast of the twentieth century. It was so powerful that it drained magma from under another volcano, Mount Katmai, six miles east, causing the summit of Katmai to collapse to form a caldera half a mile deep. Novarupta also expelled three cubic miles of magma and ash into the air, which fell to cover an area of 3,000 square miles more than a foot deep. Despite the fact that the eruption was comparable to that of the far more famous eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia in 1883 and so near the continental United States, it was hardly known at the time because the area was so remote from English-speaking people. Almost a hundred years later, researchers are paying attention. Novarupta is near the Arctic Circle and its impact on climate appears to be quite different from that of "ordinary" tropical volcanoes, according to recent research by...http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/03oct_novarupta.htm?list184039